Photo Credit: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
By Joanna Paraszczuk. A Chechen militant who says he is fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria has posted a heartfelt open letter to his mother, confessing that he misses her when he is alone at night but hoping that he will make her proud when he becomes a “martyr” and dies in battle.
Abu Abdullah Shishani (“The Chechen”) shared the letter on his VKontakte account on March 15.
“Mama, I know you are crying — it hurts that you lost me…And I also feel longing at night when I am alone… remembering you,” Abu Abdullah writes.
Abu Abdullah’s letter is part of a trend that has developed among Russian-speaking, usually North Caucasus militants from various factions in Syria, who use social media to post their own writings — poems, open letters, diary entries, accounts of dreams — that tell of their experiences. These militants, including Abu Abdullah, usually express their thoughts, memories, and opinions using the language and ideology of militant jihad.
While their accounts are intended to be shared among others in order to move and motivate them, unlike the “official” polished and glossy propaganda material published by IS’s Al-Hayat media wing, they appear to be written for consumption within the smaller Russian-speaking “jihad” community and do not have messages for a Western audience. (Read more from “‘Dear Mom, Don’t Cry,’ Chechen IS Militant Writes, ‘I’m Waging Jihad'” HERE)
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Islamic State’s Propaganda Magazine Justifies Use of Child Executioners
By Joanna Paraszczuk. The latest edition of Dabiq, the full-color, glossy propaganda magazine published by Islamic State (IS) militants, praises two children who have carried out execution-style killings for the militant group.
The eighth issue of Dabiq magazine, whose cover has the headline Sharia Alone Will Rule Africa, was shared on social media on March 30.
An article titled The Lions Of Tomorrow features photographs of the two child militants, both of whom are shown in videos apparently shooting captives that IS had accused of being foreign agents.
One of the children, who was shown apparently shooting dead two men accused of being Russian spies in a video released in January, looks very similar to a young Kazakh boy who appeared in an earlier video showing a group of ethnic Kazakh children undergoing military and ideological instruction.
The second child is shown in a video released earlier this month, where he appears to shoot dead a Palestinian man whom IS had accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad. (Read more from ” Islamic State’s Propaganda Magazine Justifies Use of Child Executioners” HERE)
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